Telema zhewang, Chen & Zhu, 2009

Chen, Hui-Ming & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2009, Two new troglobitic species of the genus Telema (Araneae, Telemidae) from Guizhou, southwestern China, Journal of Natural History 43 (27 - 28), pp. 1705-1713 : 1709-1711

Telema zhewang sp. nov.

( Figure 3A–D,F–L,O,P )

Material

Holotype male. Collected from Zhoujia Cave (25°11¢ N, 105°55¢ E, 600 m above sea level), Zhewang village, Qingping town , Ceheng county , Guizhou province, 23 May 2004, collected by H.M. Chen and Y.Q. Zhang ( MLR).

Paratype. Thirteen males and 22 females, same data as holotype ( MHBU) .

Other comparative material. Telema liangxi , four males and nine females from Jinshi Cave (25°17¢28.96¢¢ N, 108°03¢52.58¢¢ E, 534 m above sea level), only 4 km from the location of the holotype, Liangxi Cave, 9 October 2001, collected by H.M. Chen.

Diagnosis

The new species is similar to T. liangxi but can be distinguished by the strongly reduced prolateral cymbial apophysis (well developed in T. liangxi , Figure 3E.F ) in male, spermathecae coiled more than one circuit in lateral view (less than one circuit in T. liangxi , Figure 3J–N ) in female.

Description

Male holotype. Total length 1.30. Cephalothorax 0.63 long, 0.58 wide, 0.39 high; yellowish, no fovea, with two pairs of short setae. Eyeless. Chelicerae 0.284 long, yellowish; fangs long, slender; similar to T. feilong , promargin of chelicerae furrow with two denticles, three denticulates, retromargin with four granulous denticulates. Sternum 0.37 long, 0.28 wide, yellowish, smooth with a few bristles. Labium 0.065 long, 0.14 wide. Total length of palpus 1.17 (sum of femur, patella, tibia tarsus); palpal coxae 0.21 long, 0.13 wide; femur 0.28 long; patella 0.13 long; tibia 0.22 long; tarsus 0.54 long, with a strongly reduced prolateral cymbial apophysis, distal end of the apophysis bears two long bristles ( Figure 3F ); bulb 0.67 long, roughly globular, simple, with a tube-like apophysis that is slightly oblate ( Figure 3C,D ), slightly longer than tarsus. Colulus rhomboidal in shape ( Figure 3G ), 0.09 long, 0.10 wide. Abdomen smoothly ovoid, 0.77 long, 0.66 wide, yellowish, with hairs. Gonopore on shallow elevation. Legs yellowish, with a long spine on tibia of every leg; femur I, femur IV slightly curved in dorsal view; leg formula: 1243. Leg measurements: leg I 5.00 (1.47, 0.18, 1.63, 1.08, 0.65), leg II 4.10 (1.33, 0.18, 1.15, 0.90, 0.55), leg III 3.01 (0.95, 0.18, 0.83, 0.60, 0.48), leg IV 3.43 (0.98, 0.18, 1.08, 0.73, 0.48).

Female paratype. Specimen from same locality as holotype. It is similar in overall appearance to male, slightly bigger ( Figure 3A,B ). Total length 1.38. Cephalothorax 0.55 long, 0.50 wide, 0.35 high; yellowish, no fovea. Eyeless. Chelicerae 0.28 long, yellowish; fangs long, slender; number, position of denticles and denticulates for chelicerae furrow same with male ( Figure 3P ). Sternum 0.31 long, 0.28 wide, yellowish, shape same as male ( Figure 3O ). Labium 0.065 long, 0.13 wide. Total length of palpus 0.78 (the sum of femur, patella, tibia and tarsus); palpal coxae 0.21 long, 0.10 wide; femur 0.23 long; patella 0.10 long; tibia 0.15 long; tarsus 0.30 long. Colulus rhomboidal in shape ( Figure 3Q ), 0.65 long, 0.09 wide. Abdomen smoothly ovoid, 0.83 long, 0.75 wide, yellowish. Epigynum with one row of hairs on epigynal plate, and another row on posterior epigastric furrow ( Figure 3H ); spermatheca narrow, curved posteriorly, obtuse and swollen at apex ( Figure 3I ). Legs yellowish, with one long spine on tibia of every leg; femur I, femur IV slightly curved in dorsal view; leg formula: 1243. Leg measurements: leg I 4.80 (1.50, 0.20, 1.50, 0.98, 0.63), leg II 4.13 (1.33, 0.20, 1.25, 0.80, 0.55), leg III 3.78 (1.30, 0.20, 1.28, 0.58, 0.43), leg IV 3.65 (1.23, 0.18, 1.05, 0.70, 0.50).

Distribution

The species is known only from the type locality ( Figure 1 ).

Etymology

The specific name refers to the type locality.

Level of cave adaptation

This species lives entirely in the dark parts of caves and has no functioning eyes and no pigmentation.

Natural history

Telema feilong , T. zhewang , T. liangxi and T. dongbei are small spiders, generally restricted to moist caves. Spiders were found in complete darkness in the constanttemperature zone with relatively high humidity but without strong wind or air flows around the cave. The web is a woven sheet about 10 cm in diameter, along the cave base plate and cave sediments, such as clay, silt and gravel. Prey includes dayflies and mosquitoes. Most individual T. liangxi and T. dongbei are distributed in the middle layer caves of the cave system in the middle stages, rare individuals were found in the upper layer caves in early stages and in the lower layer caves in late stages. Telema feilong and T. zhewang collected from layer caves, but rarely.

Figures

Figure 1. Distribution of Chinese Telema species.

Figure 3. Telema zhewang sp. nov., male holotype, female paratype and Telema liangxi comparative material: (A) T. zhewang female body, lateral view; (B) T. zhewang female body, dorsal view; (C) T. zhewang male left palp, prolateral view; (D) T. zhewang male left palp, retrolateral view; (E) T. liangxi male palpal cymbium in dorsal view; (F) T. zhewang male palpal cymbium in dorsal view; (G) T. zhewang male colulus; (H) T. zhewang female genitalia ventral view; (I) T. zhewang female genitalia dorsal view; (J–L) T. zhewang female spermathecae in lateral view; (M, N) T. liangxi female spermathecae in lateral view; (O) T. zhewang female palpal coxae, labium and sternum in ventral view; (P) T. zhewang female left chelicerae ventral view; (Q) T. zhewang female colulus. Scale bars: A, B, 0.2 mm; C–Q, 0.1 mm.